FIG. 1A is a block diagram, according to the Background Art, of a wireless network 100, e.g., a cellular network. FIG. 1B is a block diagram, according to the Background Art, of a cell-site. FIG. 1C is a block diagram, according to the Background Art, of a base station controller (BSC). And FIG. 1D is a block diagram, according to the Background Art, of mobile switching center (MSC). For simplicity of illustration of, FIGS. 1A-1D assume the context of a CDMA wireless network technology.
In FIG. 1A, wireless network 100 includes cells 104 as well as cell-sites (or base transceiver stations (BTSs)) 102. Cells 104 represent the geographical areas of cellular coverage provided by different combinations of cell-sites 102, respectively. For ease of illustration, cells 104 are depicted as hexagons. Cell-sites 102 are located at many (though not necessarily at all) of the corners of cells 104.
In terms of physical components (as illustrated by exploded view 102′ of FIG. 1B), each cell-site 102 includes: one or more instances of a processor 108; memory 110 which itself includes one or more instances of non-volatile memory 112A and one or more instances of volatile memory 112B; one or more instances of a wireless unit 114; and a tower 116 which itself includes one or more instances of an antenna (not illustrated in FIG. 1B) mounted thereon, e.g., a directional antenna. Typically (though not necessarily), the geographic area of a given one of cells 114 represents a combination of areas covered by two or more sectors (not illustrated in FIG. 1A), with each sector being provided by a different one of cell-sites 102, respectively. Typically (though not necessarily), a given one of cell-sites 102 includes at least three instances of wireless unit 114 and at least three instances of an antenna mounted on tower 116 so as to provide cellular coverage of at least three sectors (arranged radially 120 degrees apart) in at least three of cells 104, respectively.
Pairings of an instance of wireless unit 114 and its corresponding instance of an antenna mounted on tower 116 can reflect different and/or the same wireless communication technologies, respectively. For example, such wireless communication technologies include: GSM; CDMA; EVDO, LTE, etc.
Wireless network 100 further includes base station controllers (BSCs) 106 and at least one mobile switching center (MSC) 128. Typically, though not necessarily, an instance of BSC 106 controls multiple cell-sites 102. Typically, an instance of MSC 128 is connected to multiple instances of BSC 106. MSC 128 (and thus any instances of BSC 106 connected thereto, respectively) is typically connected via a backhaul network 140 to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 142 and to the internet 144. Between MSC 128 and PSTN 142, backhaul network 140 can be comprised of wired and/or wireless connections. Similarly, between MSC 128 and internet 144, backhaul network 140 can be comprised of wired and/or wireless connections.
In terms of physical components (as illustrated by exploded view 106′ in FIG. 1C), BSC 106 includes: one or more instances of a processor 118; and memory 120 which itself includes one or more instances of non-volatile memory 122A and one or more instances of volatile memory 122B. Typically, a given instance of BSC 106 not only engages in wired communication, but also communicates wirelessly; accordingly, the given instance of BSC 106 can further include: one or more instances of a wireless unit 124; and a tower 126 which itself includes one or more instances of an antenna (not illustrated in FIG. 1C) mounted thereon, e.g., a directional antenna.
In terms of physical components (as illustrated by exploded view 128′ in FIG. 1D), each MSC 128 includes: one or more instances of a processor 130; and memory 132 which itself includes one or more instances of non-volatile memory 132A and one or more instances of volatile memory 132B. If a given instance of MSC 128 not only engages in wired communication, but also communicates wirelessly, then the given instance of MSC 128 further includes: one or more instances of a wireless unit 136; and a tower 138 which itself includes one or more instances of an antenna (not illustrated in FIG. 1D) mounted thereon, e.g., a directional antenna.
MSC 128, in terms of functional units, includes (among other things) a worst-cell-site (worst-CS) system 146. At least in part, worst-CS system 146 can be implemented, e.g., as executable code stored in one or more of memories 134A-134B, with such code being executable by one or more instances of processor 130.
Within wireless network 100, there are various sources (not illustrated) of measurable indicia from which metrics data can be gathered, e.g., various performance assessment units (not illustrated) in wireless network 100 which assess the performance of cell-sites 102 in terms of one or more key performance indicators (KPIs), respectively, and make the results of such KPI assessments available across wireless network 100. Worst-CS system 146 is configured: to compare the results of such KPI assessments of two or more of cells 102 over one or more defined sampling periods, respectively; group the results according to respective KPI; and organize each KPI-specific group of results into numerical order. Based on such organization of each group of KPI-specific results, a user can more easily recognize the worst performing instances of cell-site 102.